The HHB Group and Genelec have launched the world’s first Genelec Experience Centre, where visitors can audition an array of loudspeaker monitors for music, post, broadcast and install applications.
The professional audio equipment supplier and manufacturer of active monitoring loudspeakers have collaborated over a 34.5-sq-m demonstration facility within the new offices of Scrub (HHB’s postproduction reseller division, situated in the Fitzrovia area of London’s West End.
Visitors are able to choose source material from virtually any format to evaluate Genelec monitors in stereo, surround and immersive audio configurations. The centre’s audio architecture allows routing of any source to any destination –from a stereo pair of compact 8010A monitors to a full-blown 11.1 immersive audio system.
The 11.1 system partners an Avid Pro Tools S6 control surface presented in AKA Design bespoke studio furniture, and combines seven 8351A SAM studio monitors in left, centre, right, left side, right side, left back and right back positions, four 8330A SAM studio monitors overhead and two 7370A SAM studio subwoofers handling the low end. Complementing the centre’s Pro Tools S3 control surface is a 5.1 configuration of five 8320A SAM studio monitors and one 7350A SAM studio subwoofer, which provides monitoring accuracy and flexibility in a smaller footprint, while the 8010A studio monitors and two 8430A audio-over-IP SAM studio monitors demonstrate both analogue and digital compact loudspeaker formats.
A second 5.1 system showcases Genelec’s architectural installation products and includes five AIC25 active in-ceiling speakers and one 5041A active in-wall subwoofer, while two AIW26B active in-wall speakers can be run in stereo mode or in 2.1 mode in conjunction with the 5041A. Finally, four 4030B installation speakers are positioned in the Scrub sales office to demonstrate small to mid-sized commercial installations.
Visitors are able to choose source material from a range of formats including MP3, CD, DVD, Blu-ray, PlayStation, Pro Tools, Logic, Nuendo, Spotify and Tidal – with Blu-ray, Pro Tools and Nuendo providing Dolby Atmos compatibility. The system is also compatible with Auro-3D and DTS:X, and can support low-order ambisonics and binaural formats. Extensive use of high-quality signal processing, audio conversion and Dante audio networking – courtesy of products from BSS, Focusrite and DAD – helps achieve the centre’s flexibility and configurability while also reflecting the growing adoption of this type of technology in the marketplace.
‘Outside of our own factory in Finland, this is without doubt the most comprehensive Genelec demonstration facility in the world, and we’re thrilled to be able to invite customers to London to experience everything that Genelec loudspeaker technology can offer,’ says Genelec Marketing Director, Jani Jalonen. ‘If you want to hear our products in action and discuss any aspect of speaker selection, placement and calibration, then this is the place to visit.’
For general enquiries or to make a demo appointment, please contact the Scrub office.
